Procredit to use churches to educate people on savings

Procredit Savings and Loans Company Limited (PSLCL) is to use fora at churches and mosques to educate people in the formal sector of the economy on benefits and barriers in savings.

Mr Raymond Kwakye Bismarck, Deputy General Manager of the non-Banking Financial Institution, who disclosed this to journalists in Accra on Monday, said most financial institutions including PSLCL, received their “savings” from the informal sector, describing the situation as surprising.

He said PSLCL had more than 170,000 clients in the company’s loan portfolio stressing, most of the customers were from the informal sector.

According to Mr Bismarck, PSLCL’s loan portfolio alone claimed 38 per cent of GH¢54 million deposits the company received last year.

He said PSLCL was therefore intensifying its campaign to capture people from the  private sector of the economy to cultivate the habit of savings.

Mr Bismarck said the Company had deployed personnel to move around business communities, churches, mosques and other religious fora to educate people on benefits of savings and the need to reduce spending habits that undermined the savings culture.

He identified impulse buying and over spending as some practices that made it difficult for some people to save.

PSLCL started its operations in Ghana under the name, Sikaman Savings and Loans Company in July 2002.

The company, which is part of the Procredit International Group of banks and financial institutions, operates in 21 countries including Ghana and provides credit facilities to very small, small and medium scale business entrepreneurs.

The group provides accessible and reliable financial services to more than 3.1 million clients in Europe, Latin America and Africa.

Source: GNA